Fire Restoration Is the Science of Turning Chaos Into Order

12/20/2021 (Permalink)

Kitchen damaged by fire in Lost Mountain, GA.

Fire Restoration Process

You will never forget how your home looked after the last firefighter left. It was a disaster. Everything was burned, charred, or soaked. Your beautiful hardwood floors were starting to buckle, the water was leaking into the rooms below, and everything smelled like smoke. You wondered how you could recover from this. The following three steps will help you understand the cleanup process.

1. Your New Enemies Are Water and Time
The fire is out, but your disaster continues to grow in slow motion. Now, the culprit is water. It is slowly working its way through your home. It is also setting the stage for mold to move in and make the cleanup more difficult. The objective here is to get the moisture out of your home quickly. This stage of fire restoration involves removing:

• Standing water
  
• Carpets, if not salvageable in place
  
• Fabrics
  
• Furniture
  
• Wallboard, flooring and anything else that is not salvageable
  

Once the room is empty, it’s time to bring in fans and dehumidifiers. Now might also be an excellent time to apply mold-suppression products to wet areas, if appropriate.

2. Remove Everything That Is Burned and Not Restorable
Think of this as the demolition phase. Remove everything that the fire touched. If you decide to leave some charred wood in place, seal it. If you don’t, you will never get the smoky burnt smell entirely out of your home.

3. Eliminate the Smoky Smell That Permeates Your Home
Smoke damage is often the most difficult to mitigate. In extreme cases, it can require:

• Air filtration to remove the smell from the air
  
• Intense treatment by ozone generators
  
• Deodorization by special thermal foggers
  

Damage Cleaning Is Not for the Do-It-Yourselfer
The average person does not have the knowledge or equipment to do the fire restoration quickly and thoroughly. Consider bringing in fire damage mitigation experts located in the Lost Mountain, GA, area if you face this type of cleanup. When you see the results, you will be glad you did.